My advice to those younger than me

Question: What is your advice to those younger than you?

Well, when I was just a youngin' my grandpappy sat me on his knee and. . . .

Seriously I am old enough, darn it, to be able to advise others younger than me. I know most will not take that advice, but here it is for what it is worth.

1. Do not worry about what others think of you. They are too busy thinking about what you will think of them to care. Be your own self.

2. When your kids are small, keep the words don't and no out of the vocabulary as much as possible. Let them explore and try different things. They will learn better that way. Of course if something is going to hurt them, then the words should be used. Let them climb up the slide the wrong way. Let them climb up that tree. Let them ride their skateboard on their stomachs until they get the courage to ride it the right way. Let them take that old clock apart to see what makes it tick. Watch them explore. Help them understand. Be with them in their doings.

3. Create a bucket list before you are too old to do many of them. Then work some into your life now.

4. Love your spouse without judgement. Do things with him/her. Develop interests together. Laugh at their jokes. Comfort them when they need comforting. Be there for them. Remember you are going to spend more of your life with them than you will with your children, friends or co-workers.

5. Have family reunions with cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents. This gives you and your children a sense of belonging that doesn't come many other ways.

6. To go along with #5, do your genealogy as far back as you can. When you get stuck, go to your extended family to add to it.

7. Along with #5, write in your journal no less than one time a week. As you age you do forget. You will have a wonderful resource to go back to to help you remember certain activities and times in your life. Some say a journal is for your progeny. I say your journal is for you as you forget the times, good and bad, you had in your life. The people that come after you will enjoy reading what you have to say, but it is more for you in this life.

8. Do your scrapbooking as you go along. Write narratives to go along with the pictures. Identify who is in the picture. Don't wait to start until you retire. You will forget certain aspects of the times the pictures were taken. Plus you will have so much to do, it will be overwhelming. Ask me. I am working on getting some of that done now.

9. Start a blog. Write about what you want to write about. It can be about anything. Remember that you can set it up to be private, but nothing on the internet is private completely. Be careful not to put anything you wouldn't want someone else to read. Write about your trips, movies you watched, books you read, your family and extended family. Whatever. Just do it.

10. Appreciate yourself. You are unique - no one like you in the whole wide world. Love you for how you are and who you are.

There. That is the wisdom of Peggy.